Global gas-fired generation capacity to decline after 2031 Energy giants plan shift from producing oil toward natural gas Talk to a Big Oil executive these days, and the chances are they’ll steer the conversation toward gas. “In 20 years, we will not be known as oil and gas companies, but as gas and oil companies,” Patrick Pouyanne, chief executive officer of French giant Total SA , told a conference in St. Petersburg last month. Patrick Pouyanne Photographer: Simon Dawson/Bloomberg Pouyanne and his peers have pitched the fuel as a bridge between a fossil-fuel past and a carbon-free future. Gas emits less pollution than oil and can be burned to produce the power that grids will need for electric cars. But with the cost of renewable technologies falling sharply, some are warning that the outlook may not be so rosy. Forecasters are beginning to talk about peak gas demand, spurred […]